"Hows that cast feel Henry?"
"Fine."
The kid looked anything but fine. A large white cast encased his arm from just above his elbow to his hand. His long sleeve button up shirt was ripped to the shoulder, a casualty of his unfortunate meeting with the ground. Kids shouldn't wear button up shirts when playing outside. Why Regina insisted on making a seven year old dress like an old man he would never know. Speak of the devil.
"Henry, don't be rude. Thank Dr. Whale for helping you. Even though it was his job, and he made you wait in the waiting room, in pain. Suffering." She glared at him with that last word. Dr. Whale was fairly certain it was meant as a threat.
"Mom, its fine, it didn't..."
"Quiet Henry."
"Madam Mayor, as I have explained to you, I was in the middle of removing Mr. Quinn's appendix. There were several other doctors available that could have helped you but you insisted on waiting for me." Which was ridiculous when he thought about it. Originally he had thought she might have a thing for him, always insisting he be the one to treat Henry, only coming to him whenever there was something medically wrong. Flattering really, but she wasn't his type. Besides, he really didn't need the drama he could imagine sleeping with her would entail. Recently though, he had began to suspect that she didn't trust any of the other doctors. Just because he was the only surgeon didn't mean that the others didn't also attend medical school.
"Perhaps next time, Doctor, you will make sure you have your priorities right. Wait here Henry, I'm going to get us checked out of this so called hospital." Henry looked almost embarrassed by his mothers actions.
"I'm sorry about her." Definitely embarrassed then.
"It's ok, Henry. Don't apologize for someone else's actions. Let me take one more look at that before your mother whisks you back home." The cast was in place, the broken bone set. It would mend with no problems. "Everything looks good."
"Thanks again." Henry looked down at his white cast. Dr. Whale had tried to talk him into a bright neon green color but Regina had been adamantly against it. The ensuing argument was probably incredibly inane and completely beneath two responsible adults, but it had made Henry smile so Dr. Whale considered it worth it.
"I still maintain that the green one would have been visible from space and therefore better for your safety and well being." Smile number two, this was quite the rare day. "Don't worry, once you get that thing covered in signatures and drawings from friends it will look alot better."
Henry all but hid his face in his shirt. His smile dropped, and he wouldn't look Dr. Whale in the eyes.
"Henry is something wrong?"
"No. It's just that I...I don't really...I mean..."
"Henry. Let's go. Doctor." It was said like a cordial goodbye but Dr. Whale knew a dismissal when he heard one.
"Goodbye Dr. Whale."
"Goodbye Henry."
Henry was one of the most somber kids he had ever seen. He tried to remember if he had always been this way or if it was a recent development. There was no way for him to tell, he only saw the boy for yearly check ups or accidents like this one. He had no real connection with the boy, no reason why Henry would trust him over anyone else. There was a rumor that he was seeing Dr. Hopper, surely if something was really wrong then Hopper would figure it out and be able to help. He could only fix the things he could see. So he signed Henry's discharge orders and was prepared to put the incident behind him. He fully intended to forget about Henry Mills' reaction to his cast and he probably would have, if it hadn't been for the flu.
Three days after Henry left the hospital with a blank cast, he returned with the flu. It spread throughout the school like wildfire, half the town was sick with it. Most people were keeping their kids home, taking a few days off work to tend to their children. Regina Mills was not most people. She had dropped him off at the hospital, ordered Whale to "fix him" and then left. She had a meeting of some kind and she couldn't risk getting sick. He knew Regina loved Henry, he just wasn't entirely sure that her idea of what love entailed wasn't completely screwed up.
"Well looks like we meet again."
"Yea." Henry was already in a hospital gown, the covers on his bed pulled up to his chin. The boy was sweating, why in the world did he have the covers pulled up?
"How does the arm feel?"
"Fine. I'm tired. I just want to sleep."
"Alright, just let me check out a few things first. Starting with that cast." You would have thought Henry had seen a grizzly bear seeing how fast he moved away.
"No! It's fine." There was that embarrassed look again.
"Henry. I have to check it out. I promise it wont hurt. But I can't risk that something is wrong with it. I can't let you sleep until you let me see it."
Dr. Whale half expected Henry to have a naked picture on his cast the boy was so red. He looked at the arm in the cast that Henry begrudgingly offered to him. The simple, completely white cast.
"Mom said not to let anyone sign it, she said that it would look bad to have signatures on it. There wouldn't be enough room for everyone to sign and then some people would be left out and I wouldn't want anyone to feel bad, so I should just tell anyone who asks that they can't sign it...but..."
The boy tended to ramble when he was embarrassed, Dr. Whale guessed that Henry hadn't had to tell anyone what Regina said. He looked worse now than when he had first come in.
"I'm all done Henry. Just go to sleep."
"Ok."
That should have been the end of it. He had done his job. The nurses would take care of the rest of his needs. He had other patients he should check on. Dr. Whale checked his watch, 6:18. He was supposed to get off work in twelve minutes. And he was supposed to meet that check out girl from the grocery store at Granny's at 7:30. But there was something so...familiar about Henry's embarrassment. He could almost see another young boy, looking up at him, asking him to do...something. God he must really be tired, he was starting to hallucinate. He didn't have any kids and was an only child but for a second there he could have sworn...
He walked out of the hospital thirteen minutes later, fully intending on going back to his place for a quick shower. His steps slowed as he found himself outside the local hobby shop. He smiled as an idea formed in his head.
Forty five minutes later, after a quick shower and an even quicker phone call postponing his date, he walked back into the hospital. He felt his pockets for the items he had purchased earlier and walked into Henry's room. Private, of course.
The boy was laying on his side, staring at the tv in the corner. He didn't seem to be enjoying whatever he was watching.
"Is that show in black and white?"
Henry was startled from his stupor. "Yea, I like old tv shows. Don't you?" The boy was reacting very well to having the doctor appear in his room after visiting hours. "Didn't you go home for the day?"
"I never really liked the old stuff. I didn't buy a 50" inch LED tv to watch grainy black and white movies." He deliberately ignored the boys' last question. "I brought you a present."
"Why?"
"Because I was thinking about what you said earlier about not being able to have anyone sign your cast..." Henry diverted his eyes again "...and I thought that was complete bull...stuff."
Henry smirked "Bull stuff?"
"Yes, bull stuff, that is what I was going to say. Anyway so I bought you this."
Dr. Whale pulled a pen out of his pocket and handed it to Henry.
"This my young friend is a magic pen."
"A magic pen? There is no such thing as magic Dr. Whale."
"Ah, you poor misguided young man. When I say magic, I don't mean wizards and wands and all that nonsense. No, I mean magic in the way that fire was magic to cavemen, how the telephone and photographs seemed like magic to people at the turn of the century. This, Henry, is magic in it's best and truest form. This is science."
"It's a pen."
"Here let me show you." Dr. Whale uncapped the pen and began to scribble on Henry's cast.
"There. You see."
"Nothing happened. It didn't even make a mark."
"Exactly." Dr. Whale pulled the black light out of his pocket and ran it over the cast.
"You see Henry, this pen contains ink which fluoresces under the UV light causing it to glow. The only way this ink can be detected is with this light. There..." He ran the light over his signature. "Now your cast can be completely covered and your mother will never know."
"Dr. Whale, I...I don't..." Henry was on the verge of tears.
"So if we are going to cover every inch of this cast with doodles and games of hangman we should probably get started. This could take hours." Henry smiled, not one of his shy my-mother-might-be-around-so-I-know-this-wont-last smiles, but a genuine full on smile.
So thats what they did. Every inch of that cast was covered either with forged signatures of famous people (Henry thought his John Wayne was dead on, although how a seven year old knew what John Wayne's signature looked like Dr. Whale would never know) or doodles, Henry was particularly fond of the large castle Dr. Whale had drawn near his wrist.
Whale wasn't there the next morning when Regina came to the hospital and took Henry home. When he came in and saw Henry's bed empty, he felt...disappointed. Henry had mentioned last night that he had never seen the Star Wars movies, which Dr. Whale felt was a horrifying lapse in that boys childhood. He had intended to come back after his shift tonight with a portable dvd player and a copy of the original trilogy.
It was ridiculous for him to feel this way. Henry was just a patient. God, why did it feel like he was missing something, like he was forgetting to do something so important. Like there was someone...
"Dr. Whale?" He turned toward the nurse that had called to him.
"Yes?"
"There is a patient in Room 12 complaining of acute stomach pain."
"Of course. I will be right there."
What had he been thinking about?
He could have sworn it was something...important. It will come to him later perhaps. Maybe after he calls that girl back...Cynthia, Susan, it definitely started with an S or a C. She didn't seem like the type who would notice if he didn't remember her name.
Dr. Whale made his rounds and checked on his patients. Later that night, he slept with that checkout girl and never learned her name.
He wakes up every day with something gnawing at the back of his mind. Something that bugs him, that prevents him from ever having a moment of peace. He goes to bed every night knowing he had forgotten something. Knowing it is important. Knowing it is probably life or death. And every night he falls asleep, hating himself for not being able to remember.
A/N I haven't written anything in awhile, and there is a tragic lack of love for Dr. Whale in this fandom so I thought I would try my hand at writing something again. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated. I am planning more of these/might turn them into a full fledged story if there is any interest. And even if there isn't I will probably write them anyway :)